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A fire broke out at a power station in southwestern Iran on Saturday. This was the latest in a string of recent fires and explosions, some of which have hit sensitive sites. Also on Saturday, a chlorine gas leak occurred at a unit of the Karoon petrochemicals plant near the port of Bandar Imam Khomeini on the Gulf, injuring dozens, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported.
The latest events in Iran represent an escalation of tensions in the region. Figures in Iran have blamed Israel for the explosions, saying it may have been caused by a cyberattack. If that’s so, Iran may try to respond with yet another cyberstrike of its own.
Find out more about Iranian cyberwarfare against Israel in the video below.
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Annexation: An adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Saturday there was a possibility of a third intifada if the Israeli government goes ahead with its plan to annex parts of the West Bank. Nabil Shaath said that Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas are in agreement that there should be a popular uprising if the plan goes ahead.
A group of former heads of state urged European leaders to keep pressuring Israel against annexing parts of the West Bank. The Elders, founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007, said in letters to the leaders of France, Germany, Britain, and the European Union that they should make it clear to Israel that annexation would have negative political and economic consequences for bilateral and regional relations.
Special Assistant to US President Donald Trump Avi Berkowitz returned to Washington and met with senior advisor Jared Kushner to brief him on his meetings in Israel. Berkowitz met three times with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabi Ashkenazi.
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COVID-19: Israel hit another coronavirus record over the weekend, as the Health Ministry reported on Friday that 1,130 people were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus the day before. The nation passed the figure of 10,000 patients for the first time since the pandemic began.
Israel’s Health Ministry sent messages instructing more than 30,000 people to self-quarantine after the Shin Bet security service digital tracking system reported that they had been in close proximity to confirmed coronavirus patients. However, some of those who were ordered into quarantine say they were at home at the time in question and were not in contact with anyone, but that they have no means of appealing the order.
The CEO of Israel’s main airport warned that the country was “days away from reaching the point of no return” for its aviation industry, after long months of an almost complete lack of flights due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Antisemitism Watch: At a pro-Palestinian, pro-Black Lives Matters demonstration in Brooklyn, participants called to eliminate the Jewish state as well as the United States, amid chants of “Death to Israel,” “Death to America,” and “From Gaza to Minnesota, globalize the Intifada!”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA) has spoken out against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank in a series of articles published on their website, one of which additionally accuses Israel of having had a part in the murder of George Floyd.
VIDEO: Massive Iranian Cyberattack Against Israel
From the archives: Iran attacks thousands of Israeli websites (May 2020)
Recommended Reading
- Between annexation and coronavirus spike, who’s in charge? (Yaakov Katz)
- Coronavirus exposes Hamas disregard for human rights in Gaza (Paul Shindman)
- The world has never supported a Jewish State in all of Palestine (Asher Susser)
- A tale of two revolutions, and why America must be celebrated (Jonathan S. Tobin)
- The three noes that set the Mideast on a course of conflict (Dov Lipman)
